orvillefandomcom-20200222-history
Alara Kitan
Alara Kitan is a Xelayan Lieutenant and Chief of Security aboard the [[USS Orville|USS Orville]]. According to Admiral Halsey, she served with the Orville under the previous captain as Chief of Security prior to Ed Mercer assuming command.Episode One: Old Wounds Due to the high gravity of her homeworld Xelaya, she possesses incredible strength and durability. History Alara Kitan was born in the year 2396 on Xelaya to Drenala and Ildis Kitan, a university professor. Unlike most Xelayans, Kitan chose to join the Planetary Union instead of pursuing a degree in school. Her parents believed this was done because their daughter is of low intelligence, and try to support her decision as best they can. Kitan eventually makes it into the Union where she is fast-tracked to Chief of Security. Old Wounds Main article: Old Wounds. Alara introduces herself to Captain Mercer during Roll Call, where she explains to Gordon Malloy that due to the higher gravity on Xelaya, her strength is elevated on most planets. She makes it a point to tell Captain Mercer that even though she's the youngest onboard, she takes her job seriously and that he and the Orville can count on her. As Chief of Security, Alara accompanies Mercer along with Commander Grayson and Doctor Claire Finn to Epsilon 2. While Mercer and Grayson observe the technology, scientist Derek Ashton reveals himself to be an undercover Krill agent and steals a time acceleration device. Derek then proceeds to call in a Krill Battleship to further their pursuit in taking over the Epsilon Science Station. In order to get the Union crew out quickly Alara uses her strength to break down a concrete wall, giving everyone a way out. She then uses her PM-44 to fight the Krill soldiers as everyone gets back to the Orville along with the secured device and Doctor Aronov. Command Performance Main article: Command Performance. Captain Mercer and Kelly Grayson must go off board to help the USS'' Blériot'', with Bortus on leave to incubate his soon-to-be hatching egg, Alara is given control over the Orville as acting Captain. She shows obvious anxiety over this turn of events, but calms herself when Mercer assures her it's only temporary. After the two take a Shuttlecraft to the Blériot the crew notices the "ship" disappear, revealing itself to have been a trap that successfully ensnared Mercer and Grayson. Kitan tries to have the deck find them but John LaMarr confirms they nowhere to be found. Overwhelmed, Alara runs to Bortus' quarters and explains the situation to him. He says that he is unable to leave his egg for any reason during the twenty-one day period without endangering the life of the child. That she as acting Captain must figure out how to get Mercer and Grayson back herself. Kitan leaves the room and orders herself a shot of Xelayan tequila to calm down. The drink works temporarily but she proceeds to throw it up shortly afterwards, before returning to the deck. Her first order as encouraged by Gordon Malloy is to bring in the now empty Shuttle back onto the ship along with a nearby buoy, Isaac advises against the latter action claiming they aren't knowledgable on it's defense mechanisms. Alara goes with her gut anyway and the Orville does as told. Shortly after being taken into the docking bay Isaac's suspicion was confirmed and the buoy explodes, damaging the ship and many members of the crew. Alara takes Ensign Parker down to the Medical Bay after the incident and talks to Doctor Finn in her office, begging her be relived of Captain duties by coming up with whatever medical excuse she can think of. Claire refuses but gives her the advice that in order to be an efficient Captain Alara has to learn from her mistakes and take help when she can get it, ignoring Isaac to seem confident was poor judgement and she should avoid doing anything like that in the future. Later, after Kitan returns to the deck The Orville is able to find traces of a pulse from the buoy which Isaac guesses might be a form of advanced molecular transportation. After further research the pulse is traced back to the home world of the Calivon. Alara tries to have the Orville fly there and save Mercer and Grayson, but is strictly prohibited from doing so by Admiral Tucker. Who claims that the Calivon home world is off limits for any Planetary Union vessels to enter. Kitan begrudgingly accepts this and informs the crew of what the Admiral has demanded of them and that they need to return to Earth and dismiss Grayson and Mercer as deceased in the line of duty. Alara goes back to Claire after saying the entire crew thinks badly of her for listening to Admiral Tucker and refusing to engage the Calivon. Claire says she has a choice of either following orders and living with the resentment or disobeying and potentially risk ruining her career, that dilemma is what Command is all about. Alara goes to the lounge and orders Xelayan tequila again before sitting down with LaMarr and Malloy. Explaining that she had direct orders to not save Mercer or Grayson, but Gordon doesn't want to hear it stating that if the roles were reversed they would have never left her to die. Inspired by that revelation, Alara stands up and tells everyone that the Orville will go to the Calivon system in spite of Admiral Tucker's orders to save their own, she receives a round of applause shortly after. While approaching the planet Isaac insists he should accompany Alara to the Calivon Zoo Ed and Kelly are being kept in. That the Calivon view the Kaylon as technological equals to themselves and will respect him more than they would her. She follows the advice and the two of them barter with the Administrator. Isaac's suggestions are all shot down as he claims the humans are one of the Zoo's most successful exhibits. Alara however speaks him and tells the Administrator the Orville will give the Zoo 21st Century reality television in exchange for Mercer and Grayson's freedom. The offer is accepted and the two Union officers are freed. On the Orville due to her outstanding skill and leadership abilities to save her crew, Alara is granted by Captain Mercer himself the Star Sapphire medal of honor. About a Girl Main article: About a Girl. Alara, along with the rest of the crew join Bortus and Klyden in their quarters to admire their newly born daughter, Topa. Later, she accepts a transmission from Minister Kaybrak on Moclus, who claims as per the request of Bortus he will be sending a Moclan vessel to rendezvous with The Orville, where Topa will be taken to homeworld in order to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson instruct Alara to show Bortus the error in his chauvinism by challenging him to a boxing match and using her Xelayan strength to defeat him, therefore proving how strong females can be. She does as told yet Bortus remains unconvinced irregardless. At the Tribunal on Moclus, while representing her case Grayson calls up Kitan to reshape the Arbitrator's square titanium gravel into a sphere, illustrating yet again the strength females can possess. The opposition Kagus explains that her feat proves nothing, that she was only able to perform such a task due to being Xelayan, if there were a male member of the species there he could do the same with less effort. If the Stars Should Appear Main article: If the Stars Should Appear. Alara accompanies Captain Mercer, Commander Grayson, Doctor Finn, and Isaac on board the Dorahl Bioship, using her strength to open the airlock inside the vessel's ecosystem. Ed insists they should split up to cover more ground and Alara follows Kelly to explore the grass plains. While walking the Commander talks about her relationship with Ed and why she cheated on him. Alara empathizes with Kelly until they are approached by two native police officers who demand to see their paper work. Both stammer trying to give an answer and the two become suspicious, taking their guns out and demanding they come with them. Alara tries to discuss the Orville's mission diplomatically but is shot and pushed down a nearby hill and kidnap Kelly. Losing blood, Alara hails Captain Mercer telling him that she needs assistance soon. He, Isaac, and Doctor Finn eventually find her and use a Dermoscanner to heal her bullet wounds. Alara and the rest of the crew go to the Bioship capital building where Alara uses her strength to physically rip the doors to Hamelac's office off and forces him to cease his torture of Commander Grayson. The crew explore the building more before finding a door similar to the one they entered the ecosystem in. Going up the elevator is a special room with a recording of Jahavus Dorahl explaining the origin of the vessel and how it was only meant to bring their people to another world, but after encountering an Ion Storm destroyed their engines and left them marooned in space for generations. Pria Main article: Pria. Alara, Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson take a Shuttlecraft to rescue Pria Lavesque on a mining colony being pulled by gravitational forces into a nearby star. After landing, Alara uses her strength to force open a metal door that is jammed, easily crushing and bending thick steel in order to get to where Pria is residing. After returning to the ship with their new guest, Alara attends a cocktail party with Mercer and Grayson, where the former hits on Lavesque much to Kitan's concern. The next day, Grayson voices her suspicions of Pria to Alara and asks her to check her quarters for anything suspicious. Alara takes the concerns seriously, but refuses to conduct a security check on Pria's quarters without a valid reason to do so. Nonetheless, she does agree to conduct a "radiation check" of Pria's rooms, a flimsy pretext for an illegal search. Only agreeing to do so if Kelly promises her reasons are purely rational and not based on jealously for her and Ed's blooming relationship, she promises her. Inside Pria's quarters the two find a suspicious device, but before any further investigation are caught snooping by Pria herself. In Mercer's office, Alara confesses to making an illegitimate excuse to investigate the rooms, Ed is angered by her actions and announces to putting a formal reprimand on her record. Krill Main article: Krill. Majority Rule Main article: Majority Rule. Alara is recruited to part of the landing team on Sargus 4. In order to disguise her Xelayan likeness, Alara has to wear a band-aid on her nose in addition to a Kelvic hat. While on Sargus 4 after buying a Vote Badge from a local vendor, is questioned by John LaMarr about her relationship with an crew member named Andy, Alara confesses she and him broke him because the way he danced was "too grindy". After LaMarr is arrested by the Department of Corrections, Alara and Commander Grayson head into Lysella's coffee shop to discuss the situation before a Kelvic man approaches her and, knowing Alara not of the same ethnicity, demands she removes the hat. Knowing it would expose her an extra-terrestrial she argues but soon receives a heavy pour of down votes. Grayson takes her to a bathroom to try and find something else to cover her head before Lysella walks in and notices her without the hat. Later, the two take her out to a nearby table and Alara explains her true nature. They manage to convince Lysella to come aboard the Orville and discuss with the rest of the crew how they can get LaMarr's up vote count up as his Apology tour fails to yield any support on its own. Alara flies Lysella in a Shuttle to The Orville. She uses her smart phone to take a picture of it and Alara confiscates it out of her hand. When Lysella says without picture proof no one will believe her, Alara confirms that was the reason she took it in the first place. On the ship Lysella tells Isaac to hack into the Master Feed and flood it with evidence that would make the natives more sympathetic to LaMarr. Alara abruptly suggests Isaac add that John has a pet dog named "Chuckles". That in addition to another comment on LaMarr being a veteran is added by the crew, as Lysella explains soldiers reuniting with pets always is well-loved by the voters. Into the Fold Main article: Into the Fold. Cupid's Dagger Main article: Cupid's Dagger. Firestorm Main article: Firestorm. After the Orville is caught in a Plasma Storm, Chief Steve Newton calls Alara Kitan down to the engineering wing of the ship to lift a piece of debris off of Lieutenant Harrison Payne. While rushing through the hallways to perform the task, Alara is paralyzed with fear by a large fire that has erupted in the middle of the room. Lieutenant Payne eventually dies of blood lost, and at his eulogy Alara is devastated. She later practices boxing in the Environmental Simulator destroying the bag in a fit of rage. Commander Grayson and Doctor Finn come in to try and comfort her, by insisting Payne would've died even if she removed the Debris as his injuries were too extensive to have remedied in time. But Alara can't shake the feeling of guilt that her fear of fire made her unable to perform her job as Chief of Security. New Dimensions Main article: New Dimensions. Mad Idolatry Main article: Mad Idolatry. Personality Despite having incredible strength due to the elevated gravity of her homeworld, Alara appears to be a very sensitive, innocent, and kind-hearted person. Often taking interest in trying to help Captain Mercer or Kelly Grayson whenever they're forced to deal with trouble from their past relationship. She also showed genuine concern for Isaac when Gordon Malloy had pranked him, and worked with the rest of the crew to help convince Bortus and Klyden not to perform gender-reassignment surgery on Topa when she believed it would be negatively impact her development. Alara takes her job as Head of Security seriously and will go to extreme lengths to keep The Orville and it's crew safe. When acting as Captain she disobeyed the demands of Admiral Tucker in order to save Mercer and Grayson from the Calivon Zoo. During her fear simulation, she tried her best to keep everyone safe from the Clown that was roaming the ship and the giant tarantula from consuming Gordon Malloy. She later wholeheartedly supports Gordon's suggestion of getting a cat for the bridge. and illustrator Luca Nemolato.]] Alara often struggles with issues of insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. A significant part of this likely stems from her parents believing her to be a "dullard" for choosing to work with the Planetary Union instead of getting a degree on Xelaya. She also is insistent that even though she is one of the youngest members on board The Orville she can contribute as well as anyone else can. Alara furthermore seems to have complicated feelings in regards to her Xelayan strength. On one hand she seems to feel self-conscious about her boyfriend Josh breaking up with her due to being so strong, but also feels that it's her responsibility to use her strength whenever needed. She has a deep respect for Capt. Mercer, and appears to be friendly enough with him to refer to him as Ed (if not to his face) and occasionally even not add "sir" or "Captain" when addressing him. After breaking up with Josh, she tells Kelly that Ed is one of the few men who seems to appreciate her and her strength. Throughout the series she's done everything Captain Mercer had asked of her but in Firestorm failed to lift a piece of fallen debris off of Lieutenant Harrison Payne due to her pyrophobia. Feeling deeply saddened ashamed of this failure for days afterward. However, her fears are often proven to be inaccurate as whenever Alara is forced into a situation she must illustrate her strength or mental aptitude she is always able to succeed and prove her worth to everyone. Although her first stint as acting captain threatened to alienate her from her crewmates (specifically Gordon and John), she is usually seen quite friendly with all of the core crew, taking part in social events, eating lunch with them. She appears, however, to be closest to Kelly. Trivia *Alara is one of the few non-Human characters in The Orville to have an established surname. *As of Season 1, Kitan is one of only two characters whose specific age is known, the other being the physicist Janice Lee. *Although Alara is usually seen at a station on the bridge, Pria reveals that she also has her own office. *At some point between Old Wounds and Command Performance, Alara undergoes a slight change of appearance, gaining eyebrows and losing some prominence to her brow. It is not yet known if an in-universe reason for this will be revealed. Oddly, a number of publicity images from Old Wounds depicting scenes from the episode show Alara with her later appearance with eyebrows. *Whenever she is called upon to use her strength to open something heavy, Ed often asks her "Alara, you wanna open this jar of pickles for me?". This repeated joke disappears in Season 1 after the first few episodes. Appearances *''Episode 1: Old Wounds'' *''Episode 2: Command Performance'' *''Episode 3: About a Girl'' *''Episode 4: If the Stars Should Appear'' *''Episode 5: Pria'' *''Episode 6: Krill'' *''Episode 7: Majority Rule'' *''Episode 8: Into the Fold'' *''Episode 9: Cupid's Dagger'' *''Episode 10: Firestorm'' *''Episode 11: New Dimensions'' *''Episode 12: Mad Idolatry'' References Category:Characters Category:Orville Crew